Lady Bowmen bounce back to win quarterfinal thriller

Soccer: Sherwood, after giving up a tying goal with 1.5 seconds left, wins in PKs

SHERWOOD - Talk about riding an emotional roller coaster.

The Sherwood High School girls soccer team definitely did that in its state playoff quarterfinal match with Mountain View on Saturday.

The Lady Bowmen went from joyous to unexpected disbelief to, finally, uncontrolled jubilation.

And all of that was followed by a wild celebration.

Sherwood kept its season alive by scoring a 3-2 win over Mountain View in a Class 5A state playoff quarterfinal match held Saturday at Sherwood High School. The outcome of the contest wasn't decided until nine rounds of a pressure-packed penalty-kick shootout were completed.

'This was so amazing,' Sherwood senior midfielder Alex Teesdale said after the match. 'This is a huge win. It's just an amazing feeling.'

'It's the best feeling in the world,' said Sherwood junior goalkeeper Mikaela Doherty, who had a pair of saves in the penalty kick shootout. 'We have amazing leaders on this team who picked us all up.'

Sherwood, the Northwest Oregon Conference champion, improved to 17-0 on the season with the victory.

The Lady Bowmen also advanced to play at Willamette in a Class 5A state playoff semifinal match on Tuesday (see related story).

'That was a marvelous, marvelous win,' said Sherwood coach Bill Brown, who recorded career coaching victory No. 250 with the victory. 'I'm so, so proud of the girls. We deserve this.'

The Lady Bowmen and the talented Mountain View squad battled to a scoreless tie through the first half of play in Saturday's match.

But Sherwood took a 1-0 lead on a goal by junior Meghan Schoen coming with 26 minutes and 47 seconds remaining in the second half. On the play, Lady Bowmen junior midfielder Mikayla Howes hit a long upfield pass toward the Cougar goal.

Schoen got to the ball right before Mountain View goalie Tia Hatton was able to.

Schoen then maneuvered her way past Hatton and hit a shot into the open goal from close range to give the Lady Bowmen the first lead of the contest.

Then, with 9:15 remaining Sherwood turned a corner kick into another goal. Howes, taking the corner kick from the left side, tapped the ball to junior Jessica Imbrie, who hit it right back to Howes, who then drilled a shot inside the right post of the Mountain View goal to give the Lady Bowmen a 2-0 lead.

Sherwood, while feeling good at the time, wasn't able to celebrate long as Mountain View senior Tash Anderson scored on a shot from 12 yards out just over a minute later to cut the lead to 2-1.

Still, with time quickly winding down, it looked like Sherwood was going to come away with a hard-fought victory in regulation.

In fact, the Lady Bowmen had the ball deep in Mountain View's end of the field with less than a minute to play.

But that's when the unexpected happened.

The Cougars got a throw in with less than 30 seconds left. They worked the ball up field and Anderson hit a pass to senior Torie Morris as the final seconds were ticking away. Morris hit a sliding shot that found its way inside the right post of the Bowmen goal - tying the match at 2-2 with just 1.5 seconds left to play.

That left Sherwood stunned, and having to try to regroup for overtime.

Neither team was able to score in the two 10-minute extra sessions, sending the contest to a penalty-kick shootout.

That put the pressure right on Doherty, who entered the match at the start of the second 10-minute overtime session.

'I was extremely nervous,' she said. 'But I kept talking to myself. I believed in myself.'

'I knew she could do it,' Teesdale said. 'We all believe in each other.'

Teesdale, up first in the shootout, gave Sherwood a 1-0 lead with her successful shot into the upper left corner of the goal. Doherty then made a diving save on an attempt by Mountain View senior Allie Cummings.

Sherwood then had a shot missed and one blocked while Mountain View had a missed attempt as well.

The Cougars then got a successful shot from Morris to tie the shootout at 2-2 after four rounds.

The teams then traded successful penalty kicks over the next four rounds of the shootout, with the Lady Bowmen getting goals from junior Natalie Thomas, senior Lauren Vasquez, freshman Sarah Garoutte and freshman Ashley Fenske over that span.

Sherwood junior Annie Govig started the ninth round with a successful kick into the left side of the goal, giving the Lady Bowmen a 7-6 lead in the shootout. Mountain View freshman Aspen Crew then hit a shoot toward the left side, but Doherty, quickly diving, blocked the attempt, wrapping up the win for Sherwood - igniting the wild celebration.

'That felt so amazing,' Doherty said. 'I had courage in our team and they had courage in me. We all trust each other so much.'

'I knew she had it,' Teesdale said with a smile. 'We all just believe in each other.'

Mountain View, the No. 3 team out of the Intermountain Conference, finished its season with a final overall record of 8-6-2.